Gem under the stone: Starlite Leather Gloves - Best £10 ever spent

[iFossil]

Hi, everyone, I have been around for a while now, also have been preparing for a side by side comparison type of review on multiple bag gloves. So far there are Venum giant 3.0, Fairtex BGV1, Top King Superstar, Twins BGVL6, Hayabusa Tokushu, Fumetsu gloves, Uma Ultra, Starlite gloves.

And some hands on impressions on RDX T9, Pro Box Super Spar, Venum Elite, another Fumetsu, 3X sports gloves, Rival RB11, Ringside Apex, New beyond gloves.

The list will keep extending as I keep falling into buying more and more gloves. Planning to add Fairtex BGV9 and BGV14 later on too.

------------------------------------------------------------------

But anyway, this time I just want to skip straight to introduce and make an initial review on one of the gloves that have really really impressed me and I cannot wait to share the news (Especially to fellow UK sherdog-er).

The Starlite Leather Gloves.

Retail Price: £16.99 (I bought them for £11.99 as listed on ebay)

Sorry I lied, not exactly £10, but £11.99 isn't far from.

The story of these gloves are due to being in the UK, we have no access to R2C, Ringside, KO gear, Rival etc all those good brands. Therefore I kept on trying some local unknown brand to search for any gem under the rock.

After many failed attempt. This time, I believe I have found it!! At £11.99!! (Gosh I am very excited)

I have never owned the famous KO fightgear gloves that are rumored to be the best budget gloves. But these Starlite's price just straight up murder ANY gloves on the market.

More official photos

------------------------------------------------------------------

Initial review

Keep in mind, because I am soooo impressed by these, I cannot wait to share, so this is only an initial review, I have not been using them for too long. I will update it if anything changes about my impression.

Size/Weight/Profile

The Starlite are available between in 10, 12, 14, 16 oz. I have bought the 10 oz version.
I don't have a kitchen scale on hand, so I cannot tell if they are on weight, but comparing to all other 10oz gloves I have, they don't feel extra light or extra heavy, the weight is good.

Size wise, here is a commonly found Fairtex BGV1, both are 10 oz, so you can see that they are quite the compact gloves too, just longer cuff.

They have more a Mexican style profile in terms of shape.

Material Quality

First of all, these gloves are made with Genuine Leather! At this price is pretty crazy. I have asked the seller where these gloves are manufactured in and I will update the answer when they reply me (Their customer service is very good so far). My guess is they are made in China, but could be Pakistan too.

The leather I have to say, definitely thinner than thai brand ones, in fact there is no way they could be called thick like their description from official , but I still don't expect them to tear open except being cut of course.

The touch is very very nice though, you can see the full grain.

The black leather on the palm however is significantly thicker than the red, which make it a little weird as you mostly would want thicker leather on the striking surface, but nevertheless, the palm leather feels very nice.

The wrist strap as you can see is a 4" elastic band, not a fan of. But in fact they don't matter too much. These gloves have good wrist support that you don't even need the strap to lock in the wrist. However I gotta say, if they come with 4" full leather strap these gloves are gonna be godlike for the price(Even I think they already are).

Look/Design

This is very subjective, but personally, I love the red. I don't know the exact shade of red, but it is a slight brighter than maroon red, but definitely not sharp or bright red. I don't expect the color to fade too, it doesn't look or feel they would at all.

I'm also a lover of large plastic tag on the wrist, the old Twins special plastic tag was my favorite. (Yes, I know they could break after excessive use) But I just love it.

Craftsmanship

Here is where you expect it to be. They reflect on the price, but they do do the job.

They have double stitching.

Here somehow being cut ugly.

Random Red thread on the plastic label.

Also being cut ugly and the strap piping ending in a random sticking out way.

Palm Piping ending randomly in the middle as well.

Problem on the thread is actually very minimal, no loose thread, only on here randomly stitched outside.

After all, usually what make me feel the gloves are super tacky are loose thread and the feel of having a product so unclean in that regards. These starlite doesn't actually feel tacky on hand, the stitching is relatively clean. The leather structure are a pleasure to hold in hands. I literally pick out everything on my pair to show here. For this price, these gloves absolutely pass my standard.

Weight balance

This is me holding right at the end of the gloves, they aren't top heavy.

 

[iFossil]

Liner

My favourite Satin type of liner, just like the thai brand. These type of liner do smell if you don't clean them (Well same go with every type of liner), but if you do clean them, they are the best, because Satin are the easiest to clean, feel the best to slide in your hands etc all those good stuff.

Heat/Ventilation/Air out

These gloves don't feel particular heated on hand(Or maybe it's september the temperature is a lot cooler in the UK), there are zero vent holes on the palm or thumb.

But if you take a look here, the palm actually open up very high with a large circle. Of course I wrap my hands everytime and it will cover up the circle, but still there are plenty of air in. Especially if you wrap your hand with palm not being covered, these gloves can directly let your palm breath. (Sadly I wrap mine fully covered)

They are easy to air out for the same reason.

Wrist Support

This is me trying my hardest to bend backward. And the wrist support is so good, you don't even need to lock in the wrist strap, so elastic band or not, they don't affect how good the wrist support is. However my gloves are pretty new, if they do change, I will update this. So far, wrist support is excellent, far better than 80-90% of the gloves.

This is me trying to bend it forward.

I think having the 4" wrist strap, the longer cuff has a lot to do with it, making the wrist very safe for throwing strike.

Fit/Comfort/Feel

The fit is excellent, I have a narrow long hand on the small size (7.5" circumference around the knuckle). These are the 10 oz version and have the perfect amount of room in hand compartment, they aren't snug without wraps at all. With 180" wraps, they fit perfect, no room to slide around, also not very snug, just about perfect. I also think it has to do with how the gloves open up high with a circle around the palm, your hand just naturally being fit in with how much the circle open up. (If you have a bigger hand, the circle should open up more to fit your hand.

I think most of this perfect room fit in hand compartment comes from this elastic piece allowing that. If this piece wear out then, there could be a problem (I can't say for certain)

Luckily, the wrist strap aren't far from that little piece, if that wear out, the wrist strap should hold it well.
If both wear out then...time to get another pair?

Comfort wise is very comfortable, wouldn't say the most comfortable gloves I ever owned, but not too far from, main reason is there are soft cushion on the far end of your palm all along the wrist.

The grip bar is at perfect location. Making a fist does not require any effort at all, so natural in closing a fist.
The padding does not punish your knuckle while making a fist too. (Many gloves dig in and squeeze your knuckles hard when not broken in)

I'd say these gloves come perfect without any need to break in at all.

This is how much you can open the hand (For now)

There are gloves that feel having cushion all around your hands, from thumb, palm, back hand all wrap around your hand, these don't feel like that. Just naturally grabbing a fist on a layer of leather, feel like wearing leather gloves more than a bag of cushions.

The only different feeling of these gloves.

You really feel the gap between the padding and the part that you grab. It's a little weird but if they don't tear apart, I have no problem.

Also due to longer cuff, as expected they don't rotate too well sideway when you put on hand, but when training I don't notice too much.

Thumb Position

Probably has to do with the mexican shape, you have the straight thumb. It feels sticking out.

Almost sticking out to take over the main hand padding.

But luckily, the thumb is angle downward (This pic, I am already making a fist), so you shouldn't have any chance with it landing or jamming.

It feels like this.

It doesn't feel too natural, but certainly not uncomfortable. The length is also plenty for my relative long thumb.


Knuckle Padding/Protection

I have to say, I have very boney, pointy second biggest knuckles, on both hand they have been injured many many times. So I almost cannot take any punishment on them at all. I need protection.

These gloves padding are on the hard side, they are definitely not pillow, much more solid than all the thai gloves padding I have. I would consider these medium and a little towards hard side. In theory I should not be able to use these padding. But they are damn protective at the same time. They do not punish my knuckles at all. I really have no idea how that work.

I have no idea what padding these are, they feel like only one thick layer, or one thick layer with one extremely thin layer that I can't tell. They do not bottom out at all, no matter how you push it, you can't push through.

I have to say these are my favorite padding out of all gloves so far. pretty crazy to say on a pair of gloves this cheap.

For this price, I should cut open them to find out, lol but I really don't want to destroy a fine product.

Also FYI, I 100% don't think these are suitable for sparring at all.


Feedback & Pop

This is where this really make these my favorite padding. The pop is AMAZING. They crack the bag very loud and not feel like I am cracking the bag with a wooden board that have no rebound.

I have to clarify here. I have tried the Rival RB11 and some others commonly described as the louder or loudest cracking gloves. (Haven't tried Reyes though, don't think my knuckle can take them) These gloves have one common feel, yes they crack really loud, but there is zero rebound, I literally feel like holding a wooden board and slapping the bag. Every punch I throw with those loud cracking gloves they do make a huge pop but all the punches just stop at the bag, they feel like they literally stop and doesn't want to go back to the direction they come from, so you have to really make more effort to pull them back.

It's just not enjoyable to me. Springy gloves are also very weird that the harder you punch the more they bounce back. So without the perfect amount of bounce, springy gloves aren't good either.

These Starlite gloves aren't springy by any means. But they feel after the punch landed they have minimal amount to already lead your gloves to retract back to the right directipn. It's the perfect amount that they aren't consider springy at all but they also don't stop at the bag being still after a big crack. It's so damn enjoyable using the Starlite.

Great protection, great feedback, loud pop, ideal rebound. (I really need to educate myself what kind of padding this is.)


Durability

I can't tell, only an initial review, will update later.

Only time will tell how long these can last. Even just for a month it is still decent value, I expect at least 5 months to 1 year+.

I take care of my gloves, I can see if someone intentionally breaking these like ripping the badly finished piping etc, these could go down fast.

Availability: Only UK? I am not 100% sure, you can go on their website and see if they have any email etc to ask.


Cost Performance Ratio

These gloves are off the chart, crazily good!


Overall

These gloves really have a chance to compete to be my favorite gloves in term of enjoyment. The best thing about these are the padding, very protective and very great pop at the same time, absolute my favorite of all time. All the other things are decent but not my absolute favorite. Only thing that you might potentially worry is durability since I have no idea yet.

For this price these are really killing it. Perfect bag gloves, not suitable for sparring though.

------------------------------------------------------------------

TL;DR

Size/Weight/Profile: Compact
Material Quality: Decent, thin genuine leather
Look/Design: Decent
Craftsmanship: Below average
Weight balance: Good
Liner: Satin, excellent
Heat/Ventilation/Air out: No problem
Wrist Support: Excellent
Fit/Comfort/Feel: Excellent
Thumb Position: Decent
Knuckle Padding/Protection: Excellent
Feedback & Pop: Perfect
Durability: Unknown
Availability: Only UK?
Cost Performance Ratio: Beyond Perfect

Overall: Great Gloves, amazing for the price

 

[iFossil]

Oh btw,

They also do a Thai profile gloves with a full leather wrist strap.

Look kinda like the Twins bgvl 3 and Fairtex bgv1 shape. But I have no clue how big they are compare to those two models.

Originally I ordered these instead for the full leather strap, but they arrived as the Mexican shape gloves I shown above with the elastic band but actually very good, so I am not complaining. I asked the seller, they said they were moving their stock and made a mistake. Their customer service was nice too.

I am probably not going to order the Thai style, but just heads up for anyone interested.

 

[iFossil]

I can't believe my first review is a pair of £10 gloves when everyone else is reviewing custom. LOL

Anyway, my comparison review of over 10 pair of stock gloves will come one day....eventually....

 

[florinul]

I can't believe my first review is a pair of £10 gloves when everyone else is reviewing custom. LOL

Anyway, my comparison review of over 10 pair of stock gloves will come one day....eventually....

I have order a pair of boxing glove from their site: 15 pounds, plus 5 shipping, 20 total, after reading your review. Very cheap!.
I chose 14 oz weight, cause all my other pairs are either 12 or 16 oz. Anyway, how is the padding comparing with UMA Ultra? I would say UMA Ultra are on the hard side, not suitable for sparring.

 

[iFossil]

I have order a pair of boxing glove from their site: 15 pounds, plus 5 shipping, 20 total, after reading your review. Very cheap!.
I chose 14 oz weight, cause all my other pairs are either 12 or 16 oz. Anyway, how is the padding comparing with UMA Ultra? I would say UMA Ultra are on the hard side, not suitable for sparring.

I think they sell them on ebay cheaper with free delivery. But either way, still very cheap.

Compare to UMA ultra: Ultra definitely feel a lot thicker in padding, almost feel twice thicker, and you get that layer foam feel that the outer layer is softer and can get pushed in, it's the middle layer that really stopping the padding to bottom out on your shots.

Starlite feels like straight one layer, much harder than ultra, 100% not for sparring, ultra is consider on the medium side to me, so expect starlite be a hard one to you.

I do think the padding in ultra is suitable for sparring though, but there are stitching all along the padding. Some people might have problem with that scraping people with a bad shot.

Protection wise, I am not a super hard puncher, but when I throw power shot, they have very different feeling but both feel as protective to me. But in reality thicker padding should always be more protective on paper, so I have to give ultra edging starlite in that regards, but ultra get you that pillow feeling. Not always a bad thing, especially if you have injured hand.

Feedback wise, no contest, Starlite has one of the most satisfying pop, if not the most in all the gloves I have tried. Ultra feels like IMF for the amount of feedback there is. I like both, I like ultra's minimal feedback too, but starlite is just off the chart satisfying to every gloves I have ever tried.

I hope I'm not one with weird taste and you will like them too when they arrive.

 

[florinul]

I think they sell them on ebay cheaper with free delivery. But either way, still very cheap.

Compare to UMA ultra: Ultra definitely feel a lot thicker in padding, almost feel twice thicker, and you get that layer foam feel that the outer layer is softer and can get pushed in, it's the middle layer that really stopping the padding to bottom out on your shots.

Starlite feels like straight one layer, much harder than ultra, 100% not for sparring, ultra is consider on the medium side to me, so expect starlite be a hard one to you.

I do think the padding in ultra is suitable for sparring though, but there are stitching all along the padding. Some people might have problem with that scraping people with a bad shot.

Protection wise, I am not a super hard puncher, but when I throw power shot, they have very different feeling but both feel as protective to me. But in reality thicker padding should always be more protective on paper, so I have to give ultra edging starlite in that regards, but ultra get you that pillow feeling. Not always a bad thing, especially if you have injured hand.

Feedback wise, no contest, Starlite has one of the most satisfying pop, if not the most in all the gloves I have tried. Ultra feels like IMF for the amount of feedback there is. I like both, I like ultra's minimal feedback too, but starlite is just off the chart satisfying to every gloves I have ever tried.

I hope I'm not one with weird taste and you will like them too when they arrive.

I think they sell them on ebay cheaper with free delivery. But either way, still very cheap.

Compare to UMA ultra: Ultra definitely feel a lot thicker in padding, almost feel twice thicker, and you get that layer foam feel that the outer layer is softer and can get pushed in, it's the middle layer that really stopping the padding to bottom out on your shots.

Starlite feels like straight one layer, much harder than ultra, 100% not for sparring, ultra is consider on the medium side to me, so expect starlite be a hard one to you.

I do think the padding in ultra is suitable for sparring though, but there are stitching all along the padding. Some people might have problem with that scraping people with a bad shot.

Protection wise, I am not a super hard puncher, but when I throw power shot, they have very different feeling but both feel as protective to me. But in reality thicker padding should always be more protective on paper, so I have to give ultra edging starlite in that regards, but ultra get you that pillow feeling. Not always a bad thing, especially if you have injured hand.

Feedback wise, no contest, Starlite has one of the most satisfying pop, if not the most in all the gloves I have tried. Ultra feels like IMF for the amount of feedback there is. I like both, I like ultra's minimal feedback too, but starlite is just off the chart satisfying to every gloves I have ever tried.

I hope I'm not one with weird taste and you will like them too when they arrive.

I search them on Ebay, but couldn't find them. Also, I ordered Thai version by mistake, send them an email to change the order, but I don't have an answer yet. Anyway, I will be happy either way.

 

[iFossil]

I search them on Ebay, but couldn't find them. Also, I ordered Thai version by mistake, send them an email to change the order, but I don't have an answer yet. Anyway, I will be happy either way.

I got them here.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331969680...204f890e0cb&bu=43973458903&cp=1&sojTags=bu=bu

Actually I don't know if they are the official lol, I just auto presumed they are since this is an unknown brand.

Also told me they had one w/ full leather strap in black, so I ordered another as well, I will see how that go, if these black one can be on par with the red ones.

 

[florinul]

I got them here.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331969680...204f890e0cb&bu=43973458903&cp=1&sojTags=bu=bu

Actually I don't know if they are the official lol, I just auto presumed they are since this is an unknown brand.

Also told me they had one w/ full leather strap in black, so I ordered another as well, I will see how that go, if these black one can be on par with the red ones.

The Ebay seller only ship to UK, it seems.
I still did not receive my gloves. I ordered them from starliteshoppingmall. They seem to have problems with their website, so I can't log in to track my order, didn't receive a shipping alert, don't know if they receive my email and change the order.
We'll see.
Also, I have 2 pairs of UMA Ultra, and one seems to be softer (have to test them on the bag), so I don't know which one to take as a point of reference to compare with Starlite

 

[iFossil]

The Ebay seller only ship to UK, it seems.
I still did not receive my gloves. I ordered them from starliteshoppingmall. They seem to have problems with their website, so I can't log in to track my order, didn't receive a shipping alert, don't know if they receive my email and change the order.
We'll see.
Also, I have 2 pairs of UMA Ultra, and one seems to be softer (have to test them on the bag), so I don't know which one to take as a point of reference to compare with Starlite

Oh that sucks, hope they will get the stuff back together man. Have they taken the payment yet?

I don't know how your 2 pair of ultra are different to each other, but the Starlite are far different to the Ultra padding, they aren't even the same type I'd say. Ultra feels the layers, starlite feel kinda like a straight layer of 1.5" carpet, no layer feel at all. I believe even the hardest ultra padding wouldn't have anything close to the starlite's pop as well just at the two extreme end of the spectrum in terms of pop and feedback.

 

[florinul]

Oh that sucks, hope they will get the stuff back together man. Have they taken the payment yet?

I don't know how your 2 pair of ultra are different to each other, but the Starlite are far different to the Ultra padding, they aren't even the same type I'd say. Ultra feels the layers, starlite feel kinda like a straight layer of 1.5" carpet, no layer feel at all. I believe even the hardest ultra padding wouldn't have anything close to the starlite's pop as well just at the two extreme end of the spectrum in terms of pop and feedback.

I paid through Paypal, so I think I'm safe. I will wait for a while, then take measures if necessary, but I don't suspect foul play.

 

[iFossil]

I paid through Paypal, so I think I'm safe. I will wait for a while, then take measures if necessary, but I don't suspect foul play.

Have you got any reply or the gloves yet?

I feel like everyone is sleeping on these gloves, the more I use them the more I love them. They are slowly becoming my favourite bag gloves of all time. They don't just crack the bags, they sound like a thunder when they hit. Only new discovered downside is while they are very protective on your hands, the shock absorption seems to be lacking, can certainly feel some shock on the shoulder a bit. So I am not going to use them daily, but once or twice a week for some super fun bag cracking work out, I absolutely love these gloves for that.

 

[Kick_@ss_Seabass]

I saw them on Amazon.ca at 60$. My old man joints would probably not like the padding on these lol

 

[iFossil]

I saw them on Amazon.ca at 60$. My old man joints would probably not like the padding on these lol

Oh nice they sell around the world then. When I search Amazon.ca it says $40 CDN. Yeh they are awesome gloves, but if you worry about joints issue you might want to skip these.

 

[Kick_@ss_Seabass]

Ok the price whent down....dawn I most stay strong lol

 

[iFossil]

Oh and this is the foam that is being used in these Starlite gloves, if you know what each layer is called please let me know, they are really protective and loudest cracking padding by a large margin.

 

[Kick_@ss_Seabass]

Will do.

 

[Davem10]

I may get a pair

I dislike the red though

Are these black ones exactly the same ?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Starlite-...hash=item488fba4270:m:mejnFIPsV3srHyJ4W3hMZ7A

They have quite a few gloves all different so im not sure if these are the sme or just similar. They look wider and flatter ?

 

[iFossil]

I may get a pair

I dislike the red though

Are these black ones exactly the same ?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Starlite-...hash=item488fba4270:m:mejnFIPsV3srHyJ4W3hMZ7A

They have quite a few gloves all different so im not sure if these are the sme or just similar. They look wider and flatter ?

No, all their black ones are made with PU/synthetic, only this red ones are made with leather. Yeah they have a Thai shape short cuff model and and a Mexican shape longer cuff model, haven't tried their Thai shape ones so I can't tell if they are any good. But this exact model that I got are excellent.

 

[Kick_@ss_Seabass]

Oh and this is the foam that is being used in these Starlite gloves, if you know what each layer is called please let me know, they are really protective and loudest cracking padding by a large margin.

The white one I don't know, but the spotted one looks like regular carpet underlay.